Robotics researchers are increasingly turning to the animal kingdom for inspiration.

The espionage issue

E&T cocks the safety catch on its standard-issue Walther PPK and jumps in to its dual-fuel hybrid Aston Martin as we embark on our regular danger mission to save the engineering truth and counter technological treachery. Are the days of the human spy numbered? Will robot insects spys prove more useful in the future? How important is mission-critical software in getting the job done safely and on time? Will technology render the human spy redundant? We also reflect on the Cuban Missile Crisis, learn about developments in eye-tracking and speech synthesis, designing cars for all ages, hydrogen on a high and much more.

In this episode, we meet artist and computer historian Dr David Link, the winner of the Tony Sale Award for Computer Conservation; hear about social enterprise collaboration from Felicity Wohltman, Vice President, Solutions, Mindjet Inc; catch up with the Eccentric Engineer, as Justin Pollard discusses his new compendium of unexpected engineering tales; talk to Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex, about electric vehicle battery costs and future technology; and finally reimagine Ian Fleming's James Bond as the engineering and technology savvy super-spy Ian Tee. [NB: the music that accompanies the Ian Tee reading is by The Surf Champlers, from the album Champloo A Go Go, performed by Kenji Yano]

The issues and demographic shifts that gave President Barack Obama four more years are being widely debated. Less attention is going to how his campaign harnessed them to secure victory. Was this the first major election where, “It was tech wot won it”?

2012 marks the 175th anniversary of the UK patent for Cooke and Wheatstone’s commercially practical electric telegraph: the first step in the era of electrical telecommunications in Britain, highlighted in these images from the New Connections BT e-Archive Project now being undertaken by Coventry University.

Hashima is a tiny industrialised island situated off the south west coast of Japan. Once home to a thriving mining community, it is now almost completely deserted - although not quite, as the plot of the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, would have us believe.

For 50 years, silicon has been the material of choice for making integrated circuits; but some say that it's been living on borrowed time - and chipmakers are developing innovative new material bases for future processors.

How might classic Bond stories be reinterpreted in the near future, with some modern cutting-edge technologies incorporated into old plots? Here's one possible outcome complete with a glossary of the tech featured...

Eye tracking and speech synthesis are now able to give voice to those with even severely limited movement.

Debate

Should we send manned missions to the Moon?

For

We must go back to the Moon and finish the work we started

Writer, broadcaster and filmmaker

Profile: Chris Riley

Chris Riley is a British writer, broadcaster and filmmaker specialising in the history of science. He makes frequent appearances on TV and radio, broadcasting on space flight and astronomy. He is a veteran of two Nasa astrobiology missions and is the author of the Haynes Apollo 11 Owners’ Workshop Manual.

Against

Go back to the Moon by all means, but Mars is the real deal

Fellow, director and author

Profile: James M Clash

Jim Clash, a fellow and director at the Explorers Club, has purchased a ticket to fly into suborbital space with Virgin Galactic Airways. He is author of ‘The Right Stuff: Interviews with Icons of the 1960s’ (Askmen, June 2012) and has interviewed six of the 12 moonwalkers.